Tuesday, September 6, 2016

WARNING: Contains spoilers.The idea for this mix came about in
Melbourne, in January, about the same time as Josh and I were starting to talk
about the Japanese ambient mixes we prepared in parallel back in April. Whereas
the Japanese mix was built by hard work scouring for new labels and tracks, as
well as revisiting the archives, this mix was built almost by itself with only
a few exceptions. Like many occasions in life there just seemed to be a number
of signs and signals pointing which way to go with ideas and tracks just falling
into my lap.

The basic idea was for it to be a science
fiction inspired ambient mix with no other conditions. However, from the start
it was always going to be a homage to the movie Alien. One reason is
serendipity and the other reason is psyche.

In terms of serendipity there were several
releases that came along that made it impossible that the mix would go any
other way. First up, while I was in Melbourne with Josh, Belgium’s Aguirre
label rereleased Joel Vandroogenbroeck’s “Biomechanoïd” album which originally
came out in 1980 as the first release on Munich’s celebrated Coloursound
Library label, arriving at the peak of the success of the movie Alien.
Consequently, the album artwork features a cover painting by the late H. R.
Gieger of a female Xenomorph-like “biomechanoid” performing felatio on a gas
bottle while apparently bound to it or forming part of the same device.
Vandroogenbroeck may be more known for his role in the Krautrock group
Brainticket, whose first album “Cottonwoodhill” is one the genres most fried
and freaked out albums, but here the instrumentation all electronic and the
textures are all metallic and nervously restless on the surface.

Not long after I was back in Barcelona I
saw a review of Stephan Mathieu’s “Before Nostromo” in The Wire. “Before
Nostromo” came out on his Mathieu’s own Schwebung label and is a set of stark ambient
pieces, one for each character in the movie, including Jones the cat. Each
track is meant to be the character’s dream before they awaken from the
hypersleep. The longest track is “Anamorphosis” which also ends the album and effectively
opens the mix. “Anamorphosis” is not a biological process somehow related to
Xenomorph biology, but is instead a process of distorting an image so that it
can only be viewed using a certain lens or angle of vision. This might be an
appropriate way of describing the music on “Before Nostromo” which at times
seems haunted by the original soundtrack and sound design, creating the illusion
that you are hearing something from the movie, but it is really something else,
a trick of the mind (whenever I listen to the track “Anamorphosis” I am
convinced I am listening to a processed version of the opening sequence and can
hear orchestral instrumentation). This is also an observation dutifully noted
by The Wire’s reviewer. Just by using the character’s name in the track name
allows a certain association with the sounds which are also carefully created
to reflect the individual narrative of the character during the movie. This is
also how the mix is intended to work. It is not meant to be a literal
recreation, but familiarity with the film helps to make sense of the loose “story”
of the mix.

When I was moving house in March, the two
tracks that effectively bookend the mix came along almost simultaneously and
out of the blue. At the time I was listening to a lot of hip hop as I carried
stuff from place to place and I listened to Dr. Dre’s 1992 album “The Chronic”
for the first time. A genuine classic, of which the best track for me is the
first one “The Watcher”, which is deep and dark, almost dubby at times. But
before that there is the cheeky “Intro” sequence which starts the mix and which
sounds like the THX noise you hear in cinemas. I confess that I also thought it
would also be great, even if a little bit arrogant, to start an ambient mix
with one of hip hop’s greatest artists just to show off a bit. Second up was
Polar Inertia’s outstanding track “Major Axis” which originally came out in
2012, but which I hadn’t heard before. I remember listening to it as I trundled
wearily up the hill again to Ikea thinking: “this has to be the ending of the
movie”. The bleeping hysteria and relentless charge brings to an urgent climax
the bleeps and pings that are so critical throughout the movie and also sampled
for the mix.

Finally, also coming out at the start of
the year, was the second compilation from the Echogarden “dub techno community”
label and radio station which featured the track “Inside their Minds” by
Asphalt Layer which features a sample of Ripley from Aliens.

In terms of psyche, I have a very long term
and close relationship with the movie. Alien is maybe an obvious reference for
electronic music, although not as much as Blade Runner, and holds powerful sway
over the minds of many. I feel entitled to interpret and reuse freely from the
film since it often forms an integral part of my subconscious. Alien is
definitely one of the films I have watched the most in my lifetime. The first
time I saw it, or any of it, was probably in the early 80s when I was around 10
years old. My mum’s then boyfriend must have been watching it on TV or VHS and
he called me up from my room and said “watch this”. Next thing I know poor John
Hurt is exploding from the inside and all these people dressed in white are
covered with blood. As the alien raced off I was ushered away again as clearly
this was not suitable material for my age. Despite being terrified I was
determined to see that again. It was sometime later before I managed to rent
the VHS, somehow sneaking it under my mum’s radar for the parental rating it
carried. Later I recorded it from TV, carefully editing out the adds, and
watched it relentlessly, especially when home alone sick from school. Having
watched it so many times allowed me to sink in to the detail, especially the music
and sounds. I remember always being fascinated by the opening sequence, that
dark planet passing by as the word ALIEN appears and the evil electronic music
that pushes its way through the orchestral arrangement. The celebrated
oscillating musical motif of the opening sequence is legendary and as distinct
and as important as the Star Wars theme. Of the sounds, the threatening clink
of chains, the closing ten minutes of panic and sirens with almost no dialogue,
the computer switching on at the beginning and above all the death scenes of
Dallas and especially Lambert always stuck in the brain.

The fact that the film is so sound-dependent
is critical. I always loved that you never quite saw the Xenomorph until the
very end, where it was disappointingly so like a man in a suit (not like todays
special effects-driven movies which are just a mindless saturation of hyperactive
effects and battles). But the major alien scenes are essentially played out in mystery
with only audio clues to guide us. Dallas is pulled into the shadows by the
creature in a sudden flash of light and a stab of feedback and white noise as
his transmission is severed. Lambert’s demise is more shocking. In the only
visual part of the sequence, the Xenomorph does not hide its desire for her as
it slowly slips towards her an erotic looking appendage (in the original
Necronom IV painting from which the film took its design, the end of the
Xenomorph tail is a penis as is the extension at the back of the head). How she
actually dies is unknown, all we hear are her shuddering convulsions, terrified
cries and then a piercing scream of fear and pain broadcast from the Nostromo’s
internal communication system. Pure sound (but not quite the Lost Boys' “death
by stereo”).

Even now in the mix listening to the sound
of Lambert’s death seems horrific and sends chills down my arm, especially coming
at the end of that incredibly cruel and brilliant Puce Mary track “The Spiral”
from her recent album of the same name. This track is almost made perfectly for
Alien. The analogue purring is eerily like the real alien sound effect from the
movie, whereas the agonised/pleasured cries in the background are horrifying in
their mix of animal, human and machine, just like the Xenomorph itself. The tom
drumming is also wonderful, evoking a hunter closing in on its prey. And then
the blast of noise comes in…

But there is more. So much is Alien part of
my psyche that it also forms part of my dream landscape. One of the most
consistently recurring dreams I have is of Xenomorphs and scenes inspired by
Alien. I probably dream at least 6 or 7 times a year about Alien related
scenes. Last year, for example, I dreamed of the full opening sequence, including
the sick yellow planet and the title music, passing in real time across my mind.

Frequently there is a Xenomorph or the
threat of one near in a dream. Perhaps most intensely, in several bad periods
of insomnia and lucid dreaming over the last 18 months I have started to
dream/think of a recurring sequence where I am writing scenes for a new
franchise movie set between Alien and Aliens on the alien planet. The movie
will tell the story of how the colony there came to be overrun by aliens
leading up to the arrival of the marines in Aliens. Part of the premise of the
story is that you know how it will end (i.e. badly), but the art will be to
show a progression/transgression or even a progression as the aliens go from
one to many in a wave of accelerating fear and hostility. I have had this dream
three or four times, each time repeating the previous developments and trying
to add a new plot twist or scene.

Indeed, as well as the sound and visual
design, progression/transgression is also one of the mesmerizing features of
the original film that sets it apart. Fantasy it may be, but it plays out more
like a strange theatre play, with a carefully curated cast of seven characters
allowing a lot of room for subtle changes of characterization. It is
fascinating to watch Parker go from a relatively irresponsible hack with
mercenary aims to being a brave and resistant companion. Ripley is almost
annoyingly straight at the beginning, but this clear sightedness is what she
needs to become the hero and survive. Lambert too breaks down from being a
disinterested, but cool and sassy co-worker to a hysterically petrified and
nervous wreck. Ash, meanwhile, doesn’t change at all, but nonetheless, the
first time you see the films, there is always the doubt about his actions, did
he do it intentionally or not until you know the truth? These types of characterization
are rare in modern science fiction and horror films, where the characters seem two
dimensional and as psychologically resistant to horror and carnage as they are
physically indestructible. Despite all the trauma and violence that modern
“heroes” may experience, they never change. There is not enough dynamic range.
Part of this may also be to the more artificial nature of the design of modern
films as to the way films are made. Firstly, Alien has a gritty realism because
it has an integrated and consistent audio/visual style that was, importantly,
made using real sets and models, so the actors are actually more “integrated”
into the world around them as opposed to standing in front of a green screen
being unable to see their world or where the creatures are. Modern fantasy and
sci fi films are generally all digital and hyper real. Consistent with this
more realistic psychologic characterization is that the seven crew of the
Nostromo are relatively mature characters (and actors) over 25 years old and
are actually working, not like in so much modern sci fi where there is just a
bunch of beautiful (mostly white) kids standing around a control room speaking
meaningless scientific space jargon and looking every bit like they never
worked a day in their life. The first scenes of the film are brilliantly
executed. Not only do they give great characterization (Lambert’s snide
comeback “I know that” to Ripley’s “It’s not our system”) and plot development
(“What the hell are we doing out here?”), but they create a sense of work and
“normality” (especially the engineers Parker and Brett, but also the
coordinated crew effort during the wake up and landing sequence; it’s almost
like The Office in space). This mundane atmosphere makes it feel more real and
is essential to provide the contrast for the later atmosphere, in that classic
notion of tragedy, which requires something to be built up so only to watch it
fall.

There are other differences with other
aspects of modern film. In the documentary about the score for Alien, the
editor Terry Rawlings mentions that part of the success of the film was that it
was “slow”, in contrast to modern films. This is also a massively important
feature of the film and critical for its longevity. The film is essentially
ambient, it asks you to move in closer, to come out from the inside with your
senses (sic) and look into the depth and darkness to find more substance and
detail, to look at the Gieger designs. It teaches listening, patience and
tension. So many modern films suffer with ADHD. There needs to be an explosion
every few minutes, a sudden acceleration or explosions and action to apparently
keep you interested. Consequently there is little tension, just action and
distraction.

The sound design on the original film is
much celebrated as is the music by Jerry Goldsmith. It is worth noting too that
the soundtrack to the sequel Aliens by the late James Horner was nominated for
an Academy Award, was recently made available on acid blood green vinyl, and has been widely copied and imitated
and reappropriated. Yet, despite the success, both composers apparently had
several difficulties with their respective productions and directors. Horner’s
score was apparently not finished satisfactorily and was collaged substantially
in the final film version. Goldsmith too also did not seem eye to eye with
Ridley Scott and both parties harboured a certain sense of disappointment at
the collaboration, despite drawing from it outstanding results.

It is interesting to note that one of the
producers wanted something “haunting and weird and strange” from Goldsmith’s score,
which they found too “lush”. It is almost surprising then, given the actual
purely electronic nature of the sound effects and the visual design, that Scott
did not go for something electronic like he did on his subsequent film Blade
Runner. It appears in any case that he might have been thinking of this at some
stage since there is a lot of industrial, ambient and noise elements used in
the film, whereas the original trailer was pure proto-industrial noise music
and not far removed from the Puce Mary tracks in the mix. This was also the
same period as David Lynch’s seminal Eraserhead with its industrial soundtrack.
But science fiction music has almost always been betrayed by Hollywood who seem
to find it eternally difficult to get away from that schlock orchestral music,
especially for futuristic movies. The late seventies was, after all, the heyday
of the Kosmische side of Krautrock (Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze
especially; they had shortlisted tracks for the mix, but did not make the final cut) as well as David Bowie’s “Low” (inspired by the science fiction
film The Man Who Fell to Earth in which he appeared and for which Low was, in
a certain way, meant to be the soundtrack for), not to mention the rise of
Throbbing Gristle and other pioneering industrial and electronic acts. There
are still many who lament the conservative and intentional classicism of the
Star Wars score, which codified the classical style into science fiction films in
many ways. To many the Star Wars score should have really embraced the future
and been electronic. Perhaps the studios feel that having a classical score
adds a certain level of credibility to otherwise low-brow “entertainment”.
Maybe electronic music is still too hard for most people to really get?

While preparing for the mix I started to
watch some old sci fi for potential samples and one of the films I watched was
Lifeforce. I never saw the film as a teenager, despite always wanting too,
probably because of the naked women more than any other aspect.

Watching the film now was painful for the
plot and effects, but also for the sound design. Looking for samples and sound
effects was impossible due to the continuous scoring throughout. There is
almost no moment where the ambient sound is allowed to play out and consequently
it was essentially impossible to cleanly sample anything (the dialogue and plot
are also terribly corny there is not much left). The only exception is the
Dallas scene in the mix which is actually lifted from Lifeforce (not even from an
astronaut in the film, but a suited scientist about to perform an autopsy on
the naked vampire girl). The astronaut-like breathing is combined with the real
sound of Dallas’s death. The same segment in the mix also features some extra
samples from the original score from other scenes.

The idea of the samples in the mix was
therefore to create the atmosphere when necessary and to emphasise the ambience
and give plot clues rather than tell the story through dialogue. Some sentences
are kept intact intentionally for cohesion, but most are included as far as
possible for atmosphere. For example, the tech jargon and the radio call. The
opening sequence is also a kind of “joke”. The long still, hopefully subtle,
intro is broken by John Hurt suddenly saying “Hold on, there’s movement…” as if
to say al that droning ambient music is alive after all.

There are several other parts of the mix
that deserve a bit of extra explanation as there are several (perhaps
subliminal) messages and musical jokes, as it were.

Firstly, after the introduction, the “real”
story gets underway with Silent Servant’s “A Path Eternal” from his 2012 album
“Negative Fascination”. This was also the first track on Sandwell District’s
Fabric mix CD, which is still one of my favourite mixes for that deeply
dystopian build-up at the beginning. My idea was for this track to try and say
a few things. Firstly, coming off the evil intro sequence it should try to
signify that “this is going to be the beginning of a really bad time”. Coming in alongside the wind noise from the
planet, it should also be a sign of a setting, a physical place, a dystopia.
Layered over it is a sample from the movie Flash Gordon in which they discuss
Ming’s Palace as a police state. At the end is another sample from the original
1978 Battlestar Galactica movie in which a gullible senator laments his mistake
of pride in leading the human race to ruin. Originally I had wanted to make a
more political edge to the mix to try and give a more metaphorical motive to
the Xenomorph. More specifically, the idea was to perhaps relate the “danger”
to the current rise in right wing extremism and hate-based race and religious
conflict. After all, in the Epilogue/Coda, Ash is heard to mumble “I admire its
purity. A survivor... unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of
morality.” This is followed by a sheet of harsh noise. This is almost an apt
description for modern populist capitalist politics. Ash could also just be
talking about the purity of the noise which is in any case another potential
political metaphor. It is, after all, the death scenes all occur in a blaze of
noise. Finally, we should not forget the real masked evil in the film franchise
is “The Company”, capitalists who betray the crew for commercial gain.

Speaking of noise, Puce Mary’s tracks
almost carry the same sense of military foreboding (the toms again), but her
track used for the final “Slow agony of a dying orgasm” is perhaps more related
to the original’s undercurrent of female sexuality (the ship conscience called
Mother, the smaller landing ship detaching from “umbilicals”, the alien
part-tamed by Ripley’s undressing at the climax, the vulva-like pods opening, the
oral sex suggestiveness of the facehugger, Gieger’s original erotic designs for
the alien and of course a female hero on the silver screen at the time of
strong activity among the Women’s liberation movement).

There is a sequence that is dedicated to
Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember and Jason “Spacemen” Pierce which includes the track
“Liquid intentions” from Spectrum’s 1997 classic modular synth album “Forever
Alien” (sic) and Experimental Audio Research (EAR)’s “Spacestation”. As they
merge into Valanx’s (Arne Weinberg/Onmutu Mechanicks) exceptional “Copper I”
there is a cheeky sample from Spiritualized’s “Ladies and Gentleman We Are
Floating In Space”. Clearly this is also meant to make a sly reference to
Spacemen 3 as well, one of my favourite groups of all time.

Not long after this comes a small show of
respect and solidarity with African Americans, not only some of the great electronic
music pioneers like Jeff Mills, Underground Resistance, Drexciya, Model 500,
Cybotron, Hieroglyphic Being and many more. There is a long tradition of
African Americans looking to the future as a sign of hope for a more equal
existence. Indeed, one of the included tracks is a lesser known, but seminal
track from Cyboton’s Richard “3070” Davis that came out in 1978, the same year
as the film. The words of the track are inspired by Davis’s post-Vietnam
torment and the Jonestown, Guyana mass murder and are also in the tradition of
Sun Ra, Funckadelic and Gil Scott-Heron, projecting a future and a peace and
happiness for African Americans in space. It is important to note that Yaphet
Kotto who played Parker did a lot of political work, whereas the main actor
inside the alien suit was also African American actor Bolaji Badejo. Perhaps
like casting as Darth Vader’s voice James Earl Jones, there was a slight undercurrent
of racism in the choice? Let’s hope it really was because he was tall and
skinny.

In the take-off sequence there is a sample
from the movie Aliens which is a special dedication and joke to my friend Nick
(“In the pipe, five by five”). It might also be odd for many to see Queen’s
name in the track list since they are hardly ambient, but there are some
interesting synthesizer moments on their soundtrack to the 1980 film Flash
Gordon. Apparently the film was a bomb at the time, but to me and my sisters
back then it was one of our favourite films and was always on rotation during
summer holidays. I personally think that, despite the obviously racist (anti-Asian)
undertones (that derive from the original comic book) and the light and hammy
comic book feel, it stands the test of time. The set design and ambience of the
palace of Mongo is superb, Max Von Sydow is perfect as always, whereas the
Italian actress Ornella Muti, who is made impressively to look part Asian and
exotic, is eternally sexy. Importantly, this part of the mix also changes the
tone to something lighter that makes the dark sequences seem worse and
highlighting again the fall from grace necessary for tragedy.

The mix was made in Audition as always with
a lot of micro edits, samples and often up to four tracks playing at once. This
explains the crowded track list with 42 tracks plus samples for a mix of only 68 minutes or so. Some tracks
come in and out for several minutes, whereas others play out completely so you
there is a lot of overlap at times. It was easily the hardest mix I ever made
with many, many final versions and even now there are some imperfections I
would like to address in future versions. In particular, the last sequence with
Polar Inertia was very difficult as I have no real way to beat match, so Puce
Mary layered on top of Polar Inertia was hard to get to work and it may not be
perfect and drag out too long for some (apologies). In any case, I tried to add
as much dynamic tension as I could, but Audition kept red lining, so what you
hear is at the limit of noise levels. This isn’t supposed to be a techno mix
anyway, the beats are more for urgency and momentum than dancing. It was nice
to “play” the ambient sounds from the movie over the top. It is amazing how
much like straight noise music they sound out of the visual context. Again, if
only the system could have taken a bit more noise as I would have loved to
floor it a bit more. It is always nice to be able to combine unusual genres or
periods together. For example, the Canadian group Lightdreams’s track
“Voiceless in Space” from their sole self-released 1981 folk rock album
“Islands in Space” (found by trawling through Wah Wah Records downtown), the
Orb, Queen, Dr Dre, a barely audible Boney M, dub techno and more.

There is a lot of dynamic range so I
recommend listening to it in one hit in a dark, quiet place.